New Blog

I said I'd have a new blog by January 1st.

I need to work on the design, font, layout, etc.

But, I'm anxious to cross it off my to-do list so I'm going with it for now.

Here is the new address:

www.BornInTheSEC.blogspot.com

This will be my last post to this blog!

Little Photographer

Mary Grace is OBSESSED with her new camera-

Hopefully this won't get old for any of us!

Showing off all her pictures to Daddy-

I just went through the 300+ pictures she's taken and here were some of the more interesting ones (or ones I thought she might like to look back on someday...hopefully they will get better as she practices!)

One cool feature of her camera is that you can turn the lens around and take self portraits-

Example:

Couldn't figure out this picture until I realized it was the one she took into the mirror-

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning 2011

Mary Grace woke up a little after 8AM on Christmas morning. She immediately ran into our room and woke us up. As we headed downstairs the first thing she saw was the trampoline. This was truly a surprise for her- she had no clue she was getting it! I think she would have jumped for an hour if Brent hadn't reminded her that we should check to see if Santa came.

Mary Grace was so excited to find that Santa brought the Disney Princess Castle. Again, I'm pretty sure she would have completely forgotten about everything else if she hadn't been prompted to see what else Santa left!

The Squinkie Shell-

Pretty excited about Cars 2 from in her stocking. For weeks we'd been telling her we didn't think it was out on DVD yet. She did make the comment as she saw it- "funny how it came out at my house on Christmas. Braden said it was on DVD at his house weeks ago." Woops, we didn't realize she was comparing notes with her friends at school!

And her camera from Santa. She's obsessed!

Mary Grace didn't finish opening her presents until about 1PM. She was totally content to play with her new toys from Santa and not open gifts. We kept having to encourage her to open something else. It was kind of funny! She even asked for breakfast and then lunch before all of her gifts had been opened (strange kid!)

We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve 2011

(our automatic timer family picture before church)

This year was a very different, but very special Christmas Eve and Christmas. For the first time ever, we spent the 2 days at our home- just us. Of course we missed being with both of our extended families, but I have to say the 2 days were very precious time for us!

On Christmas Eve, Brent and I volunteered to work the nursery at church. This allowed Mary Grace to attend the children's program, and then all 3 of us were able to go to the next service together. After church we went to a Chinese Restaurant (not as random as it sounds- when I was growing up our best family friends always ate Chinese on Christmas Eve. I always thought it was cool, so Brent and I planned in advance that we'd adopt their tradition!)

When we got home from dinner Mary Grace was allowed to open up 1 present- PJ's!

She wrote a note to Santa, put out cookies, carrots, an apple and cheese, and headed off to bed!

Thankfully she was so exhausted from the week that she went right to sleep (last year it was pushing midnight before she fell asleep- she tried her best to see Santa!)

Brent and I surprised Mary Grace with a trampoline from us. There was A LOT of assembly required which made for a rather long night!

Chicago Christmas

This year we celebrated our Chicago Christmas in Lexington!

My wonderful extended family was all willing to travel (since I couldn't) so we could still celebrate together this year.

Best of all, I did almost nothing! My Aunt Fran, and two cousins- Therese and Patricia- came in extra early to help out with everything. My mom took Mary Grace for the week to let us prepare the house. Brent grocery shopped and did a lot of the cooking. My other cousin, Katie, arrived early too and pitched right in. And even my Uncle Ed helped out with all of the dishes! I was a spoiled girl for a few days!

We hosted a 17 person party on Thursday, December 22-

Santa even made a special stop by our house!

Shortly after Santa's arrival I noticed Mary Grace wasn't acting or looking normal. She was quiet, reserved and pretty pitiful looking. In the middle of Santa's visit she actually asked to take a nap. Super unlike her! I think she was genuinely exhausted and might have been fighting a little bug. Fortunately, she got some rest and was able to get up and eat with us later. Unfortunately, having her not act like herself really threw me off. I didn't take nearly the amount of pictures I hoped to!

On Friday morning I woke up to this-

Everyone surprised us with a little breakfast in honor of Miller! I'm still not sure how my sister-in-law, Anna, and my cousins were able to pull this off without Brent and I finding out about it!

It was so thoughtful!

4-Generations

All of the Chicago family got on the road after breakfast, but my mom, Robby and Anna spent the day with us. We did our family Christmas celebration. Uncle Robby and Aunt Anna got Mary Grace Tinker Bell PJ's. She was so excited she stripped down and put them on right away!

Thanks to everyone for traveling to be with us! We really appreciate it and it helped make our Christmas so memorable and special.

Cookies

Small confession- I cheated on Christmas cookies this year. Typically I devote an entire day to making a huge mess in the kitchen, letting Mary Grace do everything, and baking many different varieties.

This year our cookie day consisted of:

1. Mary Grace piecing together Reindeer using pre-made cookies

2. Taking Mary Grace to a cookie play date at a cooking school (not my mess to clean up) with several friends

3. Making 5 dozen Thumbprint cookies while Mary Grace played at her friend Sam's house

4. Doing a cookie exchange with my extended family to supplement variety

The pictures aren't as good, but it sure was a LOT easier!

Mary Grace and JoHannah

Mary Grace, Jake and Kamryn